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LPFM Tower Collapse

Z

ZebraRadio

KEBF-LP, Morro Bay, CA suffered a total tower collapse on Nov. 15. The culprit: high winds. This station is in the same county where I live and I know the people who run it. They still have their web stream and there is a sister LPFM in Paso Robles that carries their programming. Hard to say when they will be back on the air in Morro Bay.

calcoastnews.com

Morro Bay radio station driven off air by tower collapse

By JOSH FRIEDMAN A wind storm knocked down the the tower that hosts the antenna of Morro Bay’s Rock Community Radio, or KEBF, forcing the station off the air last week. KEBF, which had been on air…
calcoastnews.com calcoastnews.com
 
It appears that they don't have much confidence that the city government will rebuild its own tower. It didn't look like much of a tower to start with. The station was originally put on the air by the city before it sold the station to the community group for $1.
 
Flying Dutchman said:
Only 40 some feet above ground and the building counts for perhaps 15 feet of it. The one bay antenna doesn't appear damaged. How complicated would this be for a ham? Have the 40 volunteers donate $20 each. Go get some poles and guy wires and get back on the air.
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The Morro Bay municipal code requires a conditional use permit for erecting "Radio or television transmitters[,] satellite dish antennas or similar receivers in conjunction with commercial or industrial uses". There are relatively few areas in Morro Bay that appear to have the appropriate zoning for such uses. From a very quick reading, the code appears to be silent about antennas in residential areas (other than satellite dish antennas) but Morro Bay is small enough that any effort such as described above would be noticed quickly. Better to go talk to the folks at City Hall first.
 
Having lived in Morro Bay when KEBF was being built, I remember that the tower was guyed. The tower is also near the ocean. So either the support wasn't strong enough to begin with or it had gotten corroded over time. The salt air on the Central Coast is highly corrosive.
 
Mark Roberts said:
The Morro Bay municipal code requires a conditional use permit for erecting "Radio or television transmitters[,] satellite dish antennas or similar receivers in conjunction with commercial or industrial uses". There are relatively few areas in Morro Bay that appear to have the appropriate zoning for such uses. From a very quick reading, the code appears to be silent about antennas in residential areas (other than satellite dish antennas) but Morro Bay is small enough that any effort such as described above would be noticed quickly. Better to go talk to the folks at City Hall first.
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The station isnt commercial.. theres your loop hole.

When i had a business partner with a permit for a new AM in montana..... they had tower zoning laws....... but didnt apply to me or my business partner because the rules said "Two way radio communications"....... and radio isnt two way./

I suspect beaver county may have eventually re written the rules after i found the loop hole
 
ZebraRadio said:
Having lived in Morro Bay when KEBF was being built, I remember that the tower was guyed. The tower is also near the ocean. So either the support wasn't strong enough to begin with or it had gotten corroded over time. The salt air on the Central Coast is highly corrosive.
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That, plus the wind. You can see the effects of the ocean winds in how some of the trees grow, where they can grow.
 
In addition to raising money, KEBF-LP has a strong community presence. Many locals love the station and when it suddenly goes off the air they want to know why. Plus, the publicity might help them expedite things with the city. It wouldn't surprise me if the Morro Bay city council isn't already reconsidering its accommodation of KEBF on its property. Public support of the station (along with more media coverage) would be crucial in this case.
 
What if the antenna is ruined? The FCC allows a station to make an emergency antenna to get back on the air. How long are the elements?
Take 2804 and divide by 97.3 equals 28.82 inches.
 
The top antenna on the tower is a folded dipole with what appears to be a side-mounted Progressive PCP-1 Circularly Polarized FM Antenna.

File for the silent STA and order the tower and antenna. Retail on the antenna is less than $400, Rohn 45SR040 tower is $4800 If it's owned by the city, it's insured....
 

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Flying Dutchman said:
What if the antenna is ruined? The FCC allows a station to make an emergency antenna to get back on the air. How long are the elements?
Take 2804 and divide by 97.3 equals 28.82 inches.
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Anecdotal sidebar: When I put my first FM on the air in Ecuador in 1966, I took a CB antenna and trimmed the radiating vertical element and the 6 "radials" sticking out from the base using the metric equivalent of your formula. I fed 100 watts to it.

I had bought an antenna that was advertised as "for higher power where permitted" and it did just fine with 100 watts. And it covered most of the market.

Later, we used air conditioning copper or aluminum tubing to build our own higher power antennas, also only vertically polarized.

That was the first independent FM in northern South America. There were a few FMs used as 10 watt STLs with yagi antennas, but otherwise no FM until Lima, Perú, to the south and San José, Costa Rica to the north.
 
ZebraRadio said:
In addition to raising money, KEBF-LP has a strong community presence. Many locals love the station and when it suddenly goes off the air they want to know why. Plus, the publicity might help them expedite things with the city. It wouldn't surprise me if the Morro Bay city council isn't already reconsidering its accommodation of KEBF on its property. Public support of the station (along with more media coverage) would be crucial in this case.
Click to expand...
ZebraRadio said:
In addition to raising money, KEBF-LP has a strong community presence. Many locals love the station and when it suddenly goes off the air they want to know why. Plus, the publicity might help them expedite things with the city. It wouldn't surprise me if the Morro Bay city council isn't already reconsidering its accommodation of KEBF on its property. Public support of the station (along with more media coverage) would be crucial in this case.
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Cheeks in the seats at council meetings, along with local media coverage (including Facebook Live, if allowed).
 
So far, it appears that Estero Bay Community Radio hasn't yet filed a Notice of Suspension of Operations request with the FCC. According to the Commission they would need to file this within 10 days of the station being off the air. The station went silent 11/15. If it goes beyond 30 days they need to file an STA.

Oops, they just did today 11/24. According to their filing:
"Efforts are being made to locate a temporary location, to resume transmission, and to replace the damaged tower at the authorized transmission site. The length of the current silence is currently unknown."
 
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